From Suda51, the mastermind behind the divisive Killer7, No More Heroes is simultaneously a celebration, parody and deconstruction of sandbox games, American geek culture, and the concept of an Anti-Hero. It juxtaposes the glamorous and high-octane battles of an assassin's lifestyle with the grim reality of a main character who lives in a motel room, roots through dumpsters for collectibles and needs to do menial labour to pay his U.A.A. fees. It gives you a Wide Open Sandbox and a kickass motorcycle, but also the stark realization that the world Travis lives in is mostly empty and devoid of things he can actually affect; even running down pedestrians is completely ineffective. All that Travis has going for him is his delusional grandeur and self-image as a cool protagonist, and even that is slowly stripped away as the game presents him with the harsh truths of a professional killer, and the fact that his murderous rampage is fueled by nothing more than a shallow need for self-gratification.

That said, no game lets you rain down on Mooks like some sort of angry nerd god quite like No More Heroes.

One of the most niche types of games, it still managed to be a modest hit, and Suda's biggest selling game. This especially stands out when it's on the Wii, a system supposedly unfriendly to those kinds of games. While initially deemed a massive bomb after its disastrous launch in Japan, the game became a Sleeper Hit as it rolled out overseas.

It was given a remake (No More Heroes: Red Zone Edition/Heroes' Paradise) for the Xbox 360 and Playstation 3, based on the belief that its poor sales were due to the Wii being unreceptive to this kind of game. This belief got a dose of reality when the game opened only a little better than the first game (on both systems), and sales legs dropped off even more quickly. Nevertheless, the game is an incremental step up from the original, featuring oodles of bonus content (including Bonus Bosses from No More Heroes 2) and gameplay tweaks (like allowing you to "stock" your special moves, which addressed the primary criticism of the original's semi-randomized Super Mode feature).

An Android OS (and soon to be iOS) social-game entry in the series, titled No More Heroes: World Ranker, was released in Japan at the end of August 2012. This entry allows players to create their own beam-katana-wielding assassin and rise through the UAA ranks via missions, including fights with some of the notable bosses of both the main games. Depending on how well it does, World Ranker may also get a worldwide release.

This game has examples of:

Holly Summers, made worse because Travis was willing to let her live but she committed suicide instead because as she states, "Assassins must die when they lose". Her last request is that Travis never forget her and Travis states that he had loved her soul before burying her. The last seconds of her life has her smiling while she puts a grenade in her mouth, while Travis is screaming for her not to go through with this.

On a New Game+, you can find design art cards. They contain many facts about the characters in the game, including the real names of most of the assassins. And the breed of Travis's cat (Scottish Fold).

Also subverted, as the instruction manual states that Naomi has a mysterious secret about her. All she does in the game is upgrade Travis' beam katana. Either this idea was dropped or Suda51 loves messing with ya. This could also be a possible Metal Gear shout out. Rumors have it that Naomi is in her 60's, which would probably be the secret.

Already Done for You: The game begins with Travis going after Heavy Metal, the 10th ranked assassin. Originally, Travis was going to fight the 11th rank, Helter Skelter, first. Instead, the fight was cut, and Travis starts out as the 11th rank, but Helter Skelter's death is still canon.

American Kirby Is Hardcore: The American box art of the first game has Travis Touchdown holding his beam katana with an aggressive look. The European and Japanese box art has Travis standing in the streets of Santa Destroy with a smile on his face and an arm around Sylvia's waist.

Animal Motifs: Travis is associated with tigers in a number of ways: many of his optional clothing items have tiger designs; the meter for his Dark Side mode is a tiger walking across the screen; his bike is named the "Schpeltiger"; the guard of the Tsubaki Mk III is a stylized Japanese "tiger" kanji; and his ultimate wrestling move is the Tiger Suplex. One of the obtainable shirts explains this: It has Travis' name transliterated in katakana ("TORABISU") and has a tiger ("tora") design on it. In Desperate Struggle Travis can even transform into a tiger as one of his Dark Side modes.

Anti-Hero: Travis Touchdown seems to be an experiment as to how far you can push the "anti" of Anti-Hero before he lapses into Villain Protagonist. Also, he is a Type I and a Type V anti-hero.

Ascended Fanboy: The Anarchy in the Galaxy attack is the same attack used by the Glastonbury in the Pure White Giant Glastonbury game. It's also implied that his other Dark Side attacks are from Pure White Lover Bizarre Jelly. The characters are Strawberry, Blueberry, and Cranberry. The attacks are Strawberry on the Shortcake, Blueberry Cheese Brownie, and Cranberry Chocolate Sundae.

Automatic New Game: The game does this, only pausing to let you choose your difficulty level and then throwing you in. After you save, it takes this trope further, automatically loading the most recent file whenever you turn on your Wii. To get to another save, you have to wait for the recent one to load, then go to the pause menu to access the load screen.

Blade Lock: Whenever you and an enemy try to attack each other at the same time. Winning the ensuing struggle gets you a free death blow. Also happens during the cutscene following the Henry boss fight.

Blood Knight: Travis Touchdown. Most of the assassins probably qualify to some degree.

Bowdlerise: Spain's translation removes a lot of the swearwords, even though the game is rated 16+ and Spain makes no fuss over swearing, plus since the voices are still in English, anyone can hear and clearly tell all the times a character says "fucking" or something, yet the subtitles omit them.

Bond One-Liner: Precedes every ranked battle, and sometimes right after them, too. "It's open mic night in Hell, old man."

In the remake Heroes Paradise at least five of the bosses from the sequel appear as optional fights namely Skelter Helter, Nathan Copeland, Kimmy Howell, Matt Helms, Alice Twilight though the fights happen as dreams.

Boss Game: While there's plenty of Mooks to hack and slash, the bosses are the real stars of the show.

Bowdlerise: Though not how you might expect. The original intent for the game had tons of gore and left the bodies of ranked fight opponents after they die. This was how the American version of the game was released. The Japanese version removed all the blood, replacing it with smoke, and removed the bodies. This was apparently intentional, as excessive violence is less acceptable in mainstream Japanese games. To the consternation of many European fans, the PAL version is taken from the Japanese cut, as Red Star games decided this version would appeal to a wider audience and improve sales. It had also just released after the classification controversy over Manhunt 2, and Red Star may have been attempting to avoid a similar problem. They have promised the sequel will not be censored, and it wasn't. The Japanese sequel is still censored.

The PS3 and Xbox 360 remake No More Heroes: Heroes Paradise is uncensored.

One bit of censorship created a bit of discussion: in the American version, Shinobu loses a hand at the end of her fight with Travis (he can't bring himself to kill her, but needs to incapacitate her to win the fight). This doesn't happen in the Japanese version, and so fans debated whether her losing her hand was canonical. The sequel finally confirmed it was, as Shinobu now has an Artificial Limb.

Brain in a Jar: Letz Shake's machine, Dr. Shake, who later ascends to assasin level.

Breaking the Fourth Wall: The final ranked battle does this impressively, with characters discussing changing the rating of the game and possibly delaying it, including a Take That against Duke Nukem Forever. The following scene is then literally fast forwarded to avoid that. If you slow down the speed, you can get more detail. The True Ending is even more crazy: Henry comes to Travis and not only reveals that he is Travis's twin brother, but that he's been married to Sylvia for ten years. The revelations are so unbelievable that Travis actually says "That's the craziest shit I ever heard! Why would you bring up something like that at the very last minute of the game?!", to which Henry replies "I would've thought you and the player would at least expect a twist of fate of some kind!" They then proceed to discuss Video Game Tropes and the impossibility of escaping from this particular game for the next few minutes. It's even implied that they both kill each other in battle just to escape the video game they're in, complete with Sylvia joking about how disappointing it is that there won't be a sequel.

Bullet Hell: During a dream sequence before the fight with Harvey, you play a game composed of the mech Glastonbury in space based on the Bizarre Jelly franchise, with very simple graphics (closer to Star-fox variety). Afterwards, you can play it some more at Travis' apartment.

Brother-Sister Incest: Travis and Jeane, though the former was unaware of their blood relationship at the time.

Bunny-Ears Lawyer: Half the assassins of the UAA easily fall into this category to varying degrees, including, arguably Travis himself. Not to mention half of the business owners in Santa Destroy.

Call Back: During the fight against Death Metal, Travis muses on how having a life like Death Metal would've been, noting several times that he should try and find the exit to Paradise, as it could end up being too much for him. During the real ending, Travis realizes that his life has become too much to handle (at least in tying up the loose ends Henry dropped on him), and laments that he can't find that exit to Paradise.

Chiaroscuro: To the point where you wonder if everyone has their own personal spotlight.

Chunky Salsa Rule: During the fight with Bad Girl, getting close to her when she's crying if she has her hand on her bat results in her repeatedly beating your head with her bat until you're dead, no matter how much life you had before. A couple of other bosses have instant-kill attacks as well; Henry's is particularly impressive.

Cleanup Crew: Nice men show up to clean up the chunks of whatever is left of the assassin you just killed.

Cluster F-Bomb: All over the place. You can force Travis to say it by charging a high attack.

Code Name: Nearly everybody; in the original, Holly, Harvey, and Travis are the only ranked assassins without one.

Cute Kitten: Playing with Travis' kitten Jeane doesn't actually do anything... but who could resist playing with such a cute little kitty? Also one of the part-time jobs.

Damage-Proof Vehicle: You can crash Travis motorcycle all you want, but it will always stay in perfect condition. At least until the endgame.

Dangerously Genre Savvy: Henry, Jeane, Sylvia, and eventually Travis. Basically, everyone who breaks the fourth wall at the ending(s). Travis does need to get (nearly) shot in the back, electrocuted via handshake, step on a few landmines, and fall in a pit before the savvyness sets in, though.

David Versus Goliath: Usually, you're fighting someone with far more experience and better weapons than you, on their own turf, on their own terms. Especially true with Letz Shake or it would have been if you actually got to fight him, and Speed Buster. Inverted rather unsettlingly with the Final Boss, where Travis faces off with a completely unarmored and unarmed opponent.

Deconstruction: The game plays out as a mockery of the Excuse Plot and how messed up (an assassin) and simple ("I just wanna be #1") someone would have to be to go through with the kind of violence found in video games. It gets to the point where Travis fights his brother Henry while Henry openly mocks how Travis doesn't even know why they're fighting.

Deliberate Values Dissonance: Everything about the game, right down to the name "Travis Touchdown," is meant to evoke different emotions from Japanese and American gamers. It is supposed to be a linear, pseudo-sandbox game in part because of how differently Japanese and American gamers react to the concept. As for the name "Travis Touchdown," Suda 51 has explicitly said the name was chosen because it sounds like an over-the-top action hero to Japanese audiences but positively goofy to American ones.

Disappearing Box: Harvey's instant kill move, which succeeds if you fail the QTE.

Distant Finale: The jazz album The Outer Rim features drama segments starring Travis and Sylvia. Turns out they're immortal. And on the moon.

Does This Remind You of Anything?: If the Beam Katana runs out of power, then in order to recharge it, Travis has to furiously shake the handle. And he does this while holding it directly in front of him and gyrating his crotch, grunting if you have to do it long enough. It, of course, requires shaking the Wiimote in a similar fashion. Destroyman also fires giants lasers out of his crotch.

Speed Buster's weapon, the Buster Launcher, has a barrel extending from its shopping cart base that's maybe fifty feet long—a barrel she shoots particle beams from. As in, a giant phallic objected aimed at the player. Doubles as a stealth pun, as in the Design Materials you can see art of the various phases of her weapon's transformation, from an Egg Mart shopping cart◊, to the shape of a woman's head◊, to a completed form◊ resembling a mechanical rooster's head with the barrel extending from the beak.

Downer Ending: One of the endings of the first game: if Travis Touchdown doesn't get all the beam katana upgrades, he will end the game with Ermen Palmer (a Captain Ersatz to Emir Parkreiner a.k.a. Garcian Smith) ready to murder him in his own apartment while he's on the toilet, which immediately cuts to the closing credits.

The other ending plays out the same way, but Henry kills the assassin and you'll end up fighting him.

Drunken Master: Randall Lovikov is the town lush. He's also implied to be way beyond Travis in ability, and his advice to "keep practicing" might as well be continued with "and you'll be almost as cool as me one day."

The Ending Changes Everything: In the first game, the realization that the UAA is just a big scam. Henry is Travis's brother, the husband of Sylvia. And those who listen carefully will realize that the UAA representative that Travis talks to is actually Henry.

Environmental Symbolism: Throughout the game, but most notably in the Final Boss fight with Jeane, where both you and your opponent are motivated by revenge and Travis' unusually eloquent last words before the fight starts are "Vengeance begets vengeance." Appropriately, you and your enemy are in a ring made from an energy-dragon-sword-thing that looks like a representation of the Ouroborus and shrinks as the fight progresses.

Expy: Ermin Palmer, the man who attacks Travis at the end of the game, is based off of Emir Parkreiner... aka Garcian Smith. They also share a basic MO of attacking assassins in apartments while their guards are down.

The Faceless: The taller of Sylvia's cleaners never has his face shown on-camera. Even happens when she tosses him Speed Buster's severed head and he grabs it and holds it in front of his face for way longer than necessary.

Fanservice: The 360/PS3 versions have a mode that ups the sexy for the already provocative female outfits (see through shirts, cheerleader outfits, bikinis etc)

Fast-Forward Gag: One late game conversation is fast forwarded; slowed down it reveals father-daughter incest. The game hints ("It's impossible, It'll only jack up the age rating of this game even further") that the conversation was fast-forwarded to avoid a higher rating, but this isn't actually the case: Suda 51 states that it was actually sped up due toRule of Funny...that, and the dialogue is a fairly lengthy Infodump. Travis' shocked reactions are priceless. (Of course, whether the ESRB ever listened to a slowed-down version, and how they would have reacted to it if they didn't, are a mystery for the ages.)

Foreshadowing: Going through the game a second time around reveals hints about Jeane and Travis becoming an assassin in order to kill her, such as the "promise" Travis mentions after killing Death Metal, the remarks about Travis' parents just before he fights Harvey and the song Dr. Peace sings, "The Virgin Child Makes Her Wish Without Feeling Anything", echoes Jeane's backstory.

Sylvia on the entry fee to the UAA. Turns out that she is ripping Travis off with his money.

Fragile Speedster: Jeane can dodge most of your attacks, but can take only a few of them.

Funny Background Event: In the bedroom of Travis's apartment, a cat toy is hanging from the ceiling fan. Occasionally, Travis's cat Jeane can be seen swinging around in a circle, hanging from the cat toy.

Giant Space Flea from Nowhere: The final boss is Jeane, a character only mentioned in the game manual and once in passing, who appears and reels off a huge amount of tragic backstory and villainous exposition before her fight. The said pre-fight scene assigns her the major antagonist of the game, and it all happens moments before the final sequence of the game.''

Glass Cannon: Oddly for a boss, Jeane. Her health is relatively low, but she dodges most of your attacks, will counter your grabs, moves really fast and has a large number of unblockable attacks and damaging abilities. The cutscenes actually imply that she isn't even glass, as you'd never win without help. An even straighter example is Speed Buster, who has a Wave Motion Gun], but dies as soon as you make it to her. Arguably a Justified Trope with her: being that her primary weapon is a laser cannon, she's probably not very well versed in close combat. Even if she was, she's shown to be an older, out of shape assassin, so she'd probably not put up much of a fight up close.

An earlier example is Shinobu, who makes up for her extreme fragility with ridiculous power and speed. Even her taunt can do significant damage if Travis is careless, and several of her later attacks leave him one hit from death. Doubles as a Wake-Up Call Boss, since the only way to beat her is to out-maneuver her.

Graceful Loser: Every battle with a ranked assassin is a fight to the death, but some of the assassins you beat will calmly admit they were beaten, possibly even congratulate you, and wait for the killing blow with their heads held high. The clearest examples are numbers 10, 6, 3 and Jeane.

Improbable Weapon User: Death Metal has a giant katana that transforms from something resembling a briefcase, Destroyman has a laser codpiece, Holly wields a shovel and fires rockets out of her prosthetic leg, Letz Shake has a giant earthquake-maker, complete with a Brain in a Jar, Speed Buster has a shopping cart/Wave Motion Gun, Bad Girl has a baseball bat and gimps (she attacks by hitting gimps hard enough to send them flying at him which he can hit back or land and serve as regular mooks), and Dark Star pulls a laser whip shaped like a dragon's tail out of his helmet.

Invulnerable Attack: Shinobu's special move. Get hit, and you'll be knocked down to three hit poins.

Infinity+1 Sword: The Tsubaki Mk. III is the infinity sword, with a price comparable to the entry fees for Ranking Matches, it doesn't just increase your attacking power, it also has increased range with its finishing moves, allowing you to kill several enemies at once, and extends the charge attack to a slightly more useful three hit combo. The Tsubaki Mk III's Energy Saver is what makes it an Infinity+1 Sword, costing a whopping $999,999, it gives the Tsubaki Mk III infinite energy. You never need to recharge it again. In effect, this means you can spam the charged attacks as much as you want. The sole downside is that it's not quite as powerful as the Mk. II .

Inherently Funny Words: Killing enemies occasionally causes them to shout "My spleen!" as they die. See also some of the luchadore mask cards. Clearly someone recognized the comedy in a name like "La Guerra, Jr." and ran with it, because "Jr." recurs several times in the card collection and keeps getting funnier. It's Truth in Television though, as many Luchadore names are passed on this way. 'Hijo de ____', '_______ Jr.' are very common things to see in a Luchadore name.

Interface Screw: Literally, one of the moves of the 4th rank assassin, complete with screwed-up controls.

Beam katanas, no less. They're really just called that, since they're more your regular lightsaber. Death Metal's sword resembles a giant straight razor more than anything else, but is still called a beam katana. Henry is a bit of an inversion however, as his style, or at least the stances, seem to be far more based on Western styles of swordsmanship, and his weapon, the Cross Sabre looks much more like a Claymore. It's worth noting that he's faster and stronger than Travis, and his weapon is parallel to if not greater than yours.

Shinobu stands out by using real genuine katana. No crazy electric beams here. She's consistently considered one of the harder bosses to fight as well.

Lovely Assistant: Features Harvey Moiseiwitsch Volodarskii, an assassin magician. His two silent, lovely "asseestahnts!" are under his loyal command, until Travis blinds him and they provide the wheel saw for his execution.

Ludicrous Gibs: The first game has plenty of decapitations, severed limbs, and people getting cut in half both ways. Desperate Struggle kicks this up another notch by having enemies cut into more pieces and even a disemboweling.

Luke, I Am Your Father: Subverted at first, when Dark Star uses this line on Travis, but is quickly shown to be lying through his teeth. But then played straight when Travis' ex-girlfriend Jeane turns out to be his half sister... and rival Henry his twin brother. For the latter, Travis asks him why the hell he waited until the end of the game to reveal that. Although Henry tried to tell him that after killstealing Letz Shake, and Travis cut him off.

Travis can survive things that would otherwise be fatal, especially in cutscenes. These particularly daring feats include being tossed around with lasers, being blown up, beaten savagely, being blown up, his sister thrusting her hand into his rib cage, and being blown up. This is arguably the only thing Travis has on his opponents. Several characters use beam katanas, which often are better looking and/or stronger than Travis'. In fact, after some of the more brutal beatings, some of his opponents automatically assume he's already dead. And then this is subverted with Bad Girl beating Travis to death with a baseball bat if you fall for her trap.

Nobody Poops: Averted. Toilets are save points, and they are everywhere.

No Celebrities Were Harmed: Dr. Peace bears a great resemblance to actor Charles Bronson, and is a doctor, a policeman, and an assassin, three roles Bronson was famous for playing.

Travis Touchdown's design is heavily based off of Johnny Knoxville... with a lot more otaku thrown in. His design is also reminiscent of Brad Pitt as Tyler Durden in his first appearances in Fight Club.

Then there's Sylvia Christel, which is either a Shout-Out to softcore actress Sylvia Kristel or a hell of a coincidence.

The Obi-Wan: Thunder Ryu, to a tee. Except for the implications about sex with Travis. But the fact that he still instructs Travis as a blue-tinted ghost after his death really seals the deal. Another one of the game's many Shout Outs to Star Wars.

Oh, Crap: On the path to Holly Summers, nearly every barricade Travis destroys has a landmine behind it, to which Travis always winds up stepping on it and gets knocked back from the explosion. The final barricade has a landmine Travis nearly steps on, but he spots it and moves his foot ahead of it. He winds up stepping on a hidden land mine and realizes he is going to get blown up yet again. If you fall onto one of the many sand pits Holly digs and don't get out in time, it will explode and kill Travis.

One-Hit Kill: Almost every boss after Shinobu has one in the first game, though they are relatively easy to dodge or escape for the most part. Shinobu herself has a very near OHK that functionally serves the same purpose.

Overly Long Fighting Animation: Subverted: Letz Shake's "Disaster Blaster" Earthquake Generator has this massively long cutscene where it charges up and prepares to flatten the battlefield, but then Henry shows up out of nowhere and proceeds to cut the machine (and Letz Shake) to pieces.

The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything: Averted; several of the assassins make reference to "outside work". Travis himself seems like an example, although he takes assassination missions from K Entertainment. Additionally, his ranked fights could be considered an assassination (he is, after all, being paid to kill a certain person).

Also can be done in both Dr. Peace's battle (Slashing back his explosive quick draw) and Destroyman (Knocking back Destroy Cannon). Both are of course Optional.

Post Modernism: Both games are Suda ridiculing the player. See Travis Touchdown, the loser otaku who spends all his money on anime and fights rather than moving out of a hotel? This Loser Is You. The empty sandbox of the first game plays into that, as the only locations are a few nerdy stores and Travis' various jobs.

Shirtless Scene: Henry gets one in the sequel, and in the first game, you have the option of removing Travis's shirt.

Shoot the Dog: Travis definitely didn't mean it this way, but most of the assassins are probably better off dead.

Shout-Out: So many to Star Wars. Reaches its peak at the 1st Rank battle—after racing some Imperial troopers riding Tie-Fighter motorbikes on your own X-Wing styled scooter, you fight a Darth Vader Expy who tries to pull a Luke, I Am Your Father on you. And the song played during the normal ending credits is a Suspiciously Similar Song of the Star Wars theme. And, of course, Travis' weapon is essentially a lightsaber.

There are lots of references to previous Grasshopper works, too. The fridge in the Rank 2 boss fight in the first game says "Chiller7," a reference to Killer7.

The "3... 2... 1... Zilch" and "Saved game beep" sound effects are references to Killer7 as well, and other sound blips are borrowed from Flower Sun and Rain. Ermen Palmer is a Captain Ersatz for Garcian Smith, Also ISZK Electronics and ZaKa TV, said TV station being a reference to both Michigan: Report from Hell and Killer7. Not to mention that every Lovikov move references a member of the Smith Syndicate.

In the original trailer for the first game, Sylvia instructs Travis to "aim for the top!"

A parody of the Sex Pistols' album, Never Mind The Bollocks..., is displayed across the street from the Beef Head video store.

Another band parody, this time of Black Sabbath, is displayed on a t-shirt you can buy once you become 4th in rank.

Travis' many shirts are ripe with references, referencing everything from previous Grasshopper works (there are several Flower Sun and Rain and The Silver Case designs) to existing magazines and publications to the Rocky Horror Picture Show: one shirt has a very familiar pair of red, open-mouthed lips.

Sylvia Christel is named after actress Sylvia Kristel, mostly known for the role of Emmanuelle in the eponymous french softcore films.

There is one to The Warriors. In Dr. Peace's stage, all the mooks are dressed in baseball gear. Though none of them are wearing face paint like the Furies. Also they have the word Warrior written on the front of their jerseys.

Soundtrack Dissonance: A surprisingly touching, well-sung ballad precedes the 9th rank fight and plays over the end credits in the normal ending (though "normal" fight music plays over the actual 9th fight). There is also an instrumental version of the song that plays in Gold Town, the bar where Lovikov is. (It should be noted that the lyrics to this song, 'the virgin child makes her wish without feeling anything', are actually very dark, but that this trope still occurs due to the upbeat melody of the song).

Heavenly Star, the incredibly sweet Genki Rockets song that plays in shops and is available in music video form (complete with birds, sparkles, and rainbows) in the Japanese and European versions of the game, strikes a stark contrast with the game's content and overall theme.

Stealth Pun: In wrestling, to win a round is to perform a hold, lock, or pin on a downed opponent. In the world of assassination, when Travis finishes off a wrestling move, the beam katana falls and skewers, or pins a downed enemy.

Take That: "What if the game gets delayed? You wouldn't want this to become No More Heroes Forever, do you?" The fact that the name is also a nice pun just makes it gravy, considering what could have been the canonical ending.

This Loser Is You: Travis is a 27 year old anime obsessed, professional wrestling watching, video game playing loser who dreams of adventure and getting laid. Even if you become the world's deadliest assassin, you are still a stain of a human being. This might qualify as a deconstruction. What kind of person buys a lightsaber off of ebay and becomes the world's greatest assassin? An otaku, that's who. Of course, if you see it that way.

Too Awesome to Use: Anarchy In The Galaxy, the ability you get for hitting 777 on the slot machine. It instantly kills every non-boss enemy in the room (but does zero damage to bosses), but aside from being extremely rare (you'll usually see no more than one a playthrough), you get a 10,000 dollar bonus per use for holding onto it when you kill the boss (which gets even higher on New Game+), making it even harder to want to use it.

True Final Boss: Henry, fightable after killing Jeane and buying every beam katana.

Unexpected Gameplay Change: Travis' dream sequence on the way to the fourth-ranked battle, Pure White Giant Glastonbury, which is done in the style of a Galaga-type shooter.

Unusually Uninteresting Sight: One your way to the Rank 5 fight, a trail of blood pools leads you to a dead body (which also leads you to a path to the same fight) and everybody just goes on with their business. Possibly justified, considering what kind of environment Santa Destroy is.

Updated Re-release: No More Heroes: Heroes' Paradise for the Xbox 360 and PS3 features improved HD graphics and a 'Very Sweet' mode which features the female characters in skimpy outfits (who weren't already).

Useless Spleen: Several types of enemies yell "MY SPLEEN!" upon getting killed. Considering that they usually get chopped in half, you would think that would be the least of their concerns.

Wave Motion Gun: #3 ranked Speed Buster's weapon, which is the end result of a transformation of a shopping cart.

Wham Episode: A few, but the most notable is the cut scene after you pay the money for the Rank 1 fight, where Travis learns that the UAA is not real, just a front for Sylvia to con suckers out of their money.

The Final Battle with Henry takes place where the game started: the parking lot of the NO MORE HEROES Motel.

Also, in the first real level, Dr. Peace, the boss fight itself takes place on the baseball diamond in Santa Destroy Stadium. The next-to-last level, Bad Girl, takes place entirely on the very same baseball diamond, you just happen to be riding a Cool Bike at the time.

Why Don't Ya Just Shoot Him?: In the ending, a would-be assassin foregoes the whole "ranking match" setup and simply attacks Travis while he's on the toilet.

In the Letz Shake cutscene, Travis starts charging Shake towards the end of his weapon's start-up sequence, while Shake helpfully gives a "T-Minus X seconds!" countdown. He doesn't quite make it before it fires, but Henry just comes out of nowhere and cuts the whole thing in half.

Wide Open Sandbox: Subverted; you are given an overworld to explore, but you can't actually interact with much of anything beyond searching for collectibles in the alleys...

Wouldn't Hit a Girl: The real reason Travis couldn't kill Shinobu or Holly, and why Holly had to kill herself. He gets over it, demonstrated when he decapitates Speed Buster, then impales Bad Girl and later cuts Jeane to pieces.

Even then, Speed Buster killed his mentor, Bad Girl bled out because she wouldn't stop fighting even after getting impaled, and Jeane killed his parents and nearly killed him, and above all, she wanted to die and Travis had to comply even though it made him sad to do it.

Wrestler in All of Us: Using wrestling moves is quite effective during most of the boss fights, taking off a good chunk of the victim's health. The fact that they don't work on Jeane, the normal final boss makes her as hard as Henry, the Perfect Run Final Boss. This is justified though; Travis apparently has dabbled in wrestling in Calgary and at the beginning of the game is still very friendly with his old teacher, the legendery former pro Thunder Ryu.

You Killed My Father: Shinobu to Travis (though she is mistaken), and Travis to Jeane (this one is true).

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